Airworthiness Inspection and First Flight!

My plane is FLYING!

I have been waiting for years to make this post. The plane made it's first flight on May 14 at 10:30 a.m! Here's the story. I apologize that they are all still pictures.

Here is a shot of the plane with it's nose repaired and painted. How about the custom swoop in the grey primer against the green primer. You can't imagine the ribbing I'm taking for this look.

I went down to Sebastian for 2 days with three objectives; 1)get transition training, 2) get the airworthiness inspection passed, and 3) do the first flight. I trained for an hour in the Velocity trainer and found that after 80 hours in a Velocity RG, I could still fly one and, more importantly, still land one. I decided to do the rest of my refresher in my own plane when I come back in 2 weeks. So, on to the other goals.

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How's this for a great surprise? I'm getting the plane and paperwork ready for the arrival of the DAR and a Lancair IV comes taxiing up. Wait a minute, I know that plane!

My Canadian flying buddy, Scott, has flown down to be here with me for the inspection and first flight with his friend Warren.

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DAR Ray Howell arrives at 4:00 to do the airworthiness inspection. Here he checks through the paperwork after inspecting the plane.

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Passed! She is now officially an airworthy aircraft. Check out that certificate.

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It is late afternoon, but John Abraham offers to get the first flight in to cap off the day now that we have all the paperwork in hand. A fairly large group has gathered, cameras at hand. He starts her up and taxis to the run up area.

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....and taxied back after the run up. The run up revealed that the prop control cable was damaged in transporting the aircraft. It binds and needs to be replaced.

It is 6:00 and everyone stayed late for me. We'll call it a day and I'll replace the prop control cable first thing in the morning.

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We couldn't get the first flight in, but we still have to celebrate getting the airworthiness certificate. I no longer have a kit, I have an honest to God airplane!

We head out to the Sand Bar at Captain Hiram's in Sebastian for some celebrating. I am really glad that my old flying buddy Scott and his friend Warren could come down and share this experience with me. It made it even better.

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Here we go again. I got to the service center by 7 a.m., pulled the cowl, removed the prop control cable and went over to buy a new one from Velocity. I had it installed and the cowling replaced by 10. Now it's 10:20 and John is ready to give it another go.

This time the run up is fine. The new prop control is smooth as can be.

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This is finally it- onto the active runway, full throttle - sounds great and off she goes.

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.....she roars down the runway with really impressive acceleration and she's off! My heart was pounding and I have to admit I got a little choked up. In the air at last

You have to check out the video. The rate of climb is ridiculously high. Before a second shot could be snapped, the plane was too far away.

Click the link for the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0WzWQKimf0
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She went overhead at 2,400 feet looking and sounding great. I posted the video on Youtube and you have to see it- this picture doesn't do it justice. Even loafing around above the field on a first flight a Velocity goes FAST!

Click on the link for the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYqddXHDtQo


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Here she comes for the first landing. It's hard to tell here, but the HID light from Duckworks is ridiculously bright. When you watch the video, you can see the plane from 5 miles out and the light is actually so bright the camcorder has a tough time resolving the plane.

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Short final and she looks and sounds great.

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......and she touches down- a smooth landing. The first flight is completed and looked great with just short of 30 minutes in the air. Click on the link to watch the landing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO91bbMhwlM
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John did a great job and brought her back safely. He's going to fly the other 39 1/2 hours off in the next few weeks, then babysit me on the flight back to Pennsylvania. There were only a few minor squawks, several of which I cleared up before I left.

To say that I am thrilled is an understatement. I have to say thank you again to the great guys at Velocity for going above and beyond to help me out while I was down there. You are the best.

Next up- the flight back home. I hope to post it in 3 weeks.

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